Browsing the World News category

SYDNEY (AFP) - A shark was found in a swimming pool at one of Sydney's most popular beaches Friday, apparently swept into the baths by a freak wave.

The one-metre (3.3 foot) shark turned up in a rock pool situated next to the open ocean at Cronulla beach.

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A mother cremated a body she thought was that of her dead son, only for him to turn up alive later, police said on Friday.

Gina Partington's 37-year-old son Thomas Dennison was reported missing last month and a body was found in Rusholme, Manchester, three days later.

The 58-year-old mother, from Urmston, Greater Manchester, formally identified the body as that of her son and, following an inquest, the body was cremated on October 30.

But police had actually found Dennison, living rough in Nottingham, four days earlier.

The case has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission to discover why Partington was not told of her son's discovery in the days before she attended the cremation.

Inquiries are continuing to formally establish the identity of the body, but Greater Manchester police said they believe they know who he is.

Next of kin have been informed.

Police said in a statement: "This set of circumstances is clearly distressing and urgent inquiries are ongoing to establish how this happened."

Ref: Reuters

Staff at a German butcher's shop were shocked to discover a customer had hidden two sex toys in their sausages for transport to Dubai, police said on Wednesday.

"It was two latex dildos with a natural look," said a spokesman for police in the southwestern city of Mannheim.

An Austrian woman lived with the mummified remains of her aunt for a year after she died at age 96, Vienna police said on Wednesday.

Officers found the corpse under a blanket on a bed after ignoring the 51-year-old niece's claim that her aunt was sleeping and should not be disturbed, a police statement said.

A Belgian man appeared in court on Friday after a woman at his dinner party found the bodies of her host's wife and stepson in the freezer as she put away the leftovers, prosecutors said.

An 11-year-old girl was charged with drunken driving after leading police on a chase at speeds of up to 100 mph that ended when she flipped the car in an Alabama beach town.

A video camera in the police car captured the look of surprise on the officer's face when he approached the wrecked car and got a look at the motorist.

he European Union's consumer chief aims to prevent thousands of fire-related deaths and injuries each year by making all cigarettes sold in EU countries self-extinguishing, European Commission officials said.

The "fire-safe" cigarettes stop burning automatically after a few seconds if not puffed, due to small gaps in the cigarette paper which cuts the circulation of oxygen.